


Caged bird

by Veraverorum (your_Mother)



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Hostage Situations, Language Barrier, M/M, Mild Language, Misunderstandings, plot exposition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-14
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-27 09:29:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15682659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/your_Mother/pseuds/Veraverorum
Summary: Gabriel of the House of Reyes, third of his name and second in line of succession to the Throne of Titán. But also hostage of the imperial court of Adlersbrunn. Against his will.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is actually the first Overwatch story that I've ever come up with, back in January 2017, so yay thanks to the BigBang for the motivation for actually writing it. Or part of it at least.  
> And a very big thank you to my artists  Jellygay  and  Tomoyo  who were so kind with my fic and fed me their beautiful art for which I'll forever be grateul and a bit teary eyed.  
> Last but not least, the biggest thank you to  Lacertae  and  Ibijau  for being my betas and moral supports during these months of preparation.
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this fic of mine!

Putting his foot for the first time on the cold soil of the Empire's Capital, looking at the contrast between the tan skin of his boot and the hoarfrost on the courtyard of the palace, Gabriel realized that from that moment onwards, his life would change radically.  
  
Now he was just another political pawn in a bigger scale game that he had not agreed to play.  
  
There had been times in the past, many if he had to be honest, that Gabriel had wished to be someone else instead, and now more than ever he felt the same thing. Each of his actions, or the actions of the people around him, had such repercussions on the world, such a toll on innocent people that lived so far away from him, that he almost felt guilty for it. He was not fine with the state of things, but at the same time he did not think it fair he had to pay such a price himself, either.  
  
Indifferent to the storm brewing inside of him, the wall of the palace, decorated with reliefs of stylized lions fighting each other, remained tall and indifferent; they had seen too many people like him walk down that same path before, and at the end of the day Gabriel was still just an enemy. Sort of. Talk about joining the lions’ den.  
  
Slowly, like time wasn't a concept that affected this kind of massive buildings, the doors of the palace opened for him and a gust of warm air tainted with fake aromas hit Gabriel. It felt like a slap in the face, more so than the cold feeling of the exterior, and he was sure he would never get used to either of them. What barbarians.  
  
Gabriel held close the hems of his big fur coat with one hand, trying to wrap it around himself like a shield, a barrier between himself and this hostile world he’d just entered into.  
  
Two figures stepped out from the open doors as they opened; one was a valet in a colorful costume, the other a tall individual, and Gabriel couldn’t exactly figure out what function they were meant to perform. Their slow movements showed lack of care about the time they were making Gabriel waste, having to wait for them. Not like he was in a rush to be anywhere in this land if not far far away from it, but he still didn't appreciate being disrespected. Fuck Adlersbrunn, and fuck how dramatic the people living there seemed to be. When the valet bowed down a few steps outside the doors, the tall one kept walking, a figure that looked straight out of Gabriel's childhood nightmares, wearing snake-like pauldrons and with mismatched eyes. They stopped in front of Gabriel, not close enough to invade his personal space but close enough to appear dangerous.  
  
They didn't bow, prideful as only somebody on the side of the winner could be. There was a disinterested smirk on that pale face and for a moment Gabriel wondered if they had some kind of thing around the mouth –they did seem to sport an unlikely combination of emotions.  
  
“Welcome to Adlersbrunn, prince Gabriel,” they greeted him in Gabriel’s mother tongue, tone calm in contrast with the way they gestured, enough that Gabriel was afraid he would get stabbed and left for dead in such a disgusting place. He found himself regretting not telling his mother and siblings he loved them enough times –or even to his father, even though he was the one who’d forced Gabriel to come here in the first place. He also did regret not seeing the beach one last time to bathe in the ocean’s salty water, letting the warmth of the sun to slowly dry him off while he rested on the beach.  
  
Thankfully it wasn't a knife that reached out for Gabriel but a hand.  
  
It had long, bony fingers, the tips so black they looked necrotic, and dark nails like claws –but a hand nonetheless. Harmless. They wanted to shake hands. Gabriel felt almost dumb, brows creased, but he shook the proffered hand with purpose, wondering if it was normal for a hand to be this cold, even through the gloves he was wearing, or if it was the weather of such a land up North that had the ability to chill its inhabitants to the bone. Gabriel did not really want to become like that –like them.  
  
“I'm Moira O'Deorain, and for the time being I'll be your tutor. I do hope you do not mind having a woman as one.”  
  
Gabriel’s face showed the questions he had about everything, though he felt frozen and not in the state to ask any of them, cold hair crystallizing in his beard, because this Moira person seemed to pick up his confusion and continued her explanation in the same even tone.  
  
“Well, unless you already know how to speak the local language perfectly, which I doubt,” and to her credit, Moira didn't bat a mismatched eye at the burning glare Gabriel reserved her at that, though if he had to be honest, his language skills _were_ kind of rusty, “you will still need me to teach you quite a lot. Etiquette too. The Empire is very different from your own country, prince Gabriel.”  
  
She turned around with a flourish of her black robe and kept talking as she walked back toward the entrance of the palace. “Thankfully for you, the Emperor is a magnanimous ruler and has prepared for your personal use a set of chambers with quite a heating system, which I am sure you will… appreciate. That is the kind of care he has shown to his guest. If you would follow me now, I'll show you to them.”  
  
Gabriel grunted in response, still high strung about the situation and about his desire to be anywhere but there, but he moved to follow his new tutor, who sent off orders to the valet, sending him scampering to the carriage that had brought Gabriel into this foreign land. It was probable he had been ordered to take care of Gabriel's luggage, although he looked as scrawny as a scarecrow; honestly Gabriel had enough muscles for both of them and he would have preferred dragging his trunks up the enormous staircases of the imperial palace on his own than being treated with fake kindness and pampered when he was actually an hostage.  
  
Despite that, Gabriel followed Moira inside, his father's words weighing him down like the worst punishment ever, for something he actually had nothing to do with. What was Gabriel's fault, in the end? He was born second son to the Royal family of Reyes, and that was it. Hadn't he valiantly fought on the battlefield? Yes, absolutely, with all the ardor that his young body had allowed him, and the scars on his face sometimes still stung when he thought too intensely about those days. Yet they had lost, and the high walls decorated with pretty pictures of that cold palace were now the bars of his new gilded cage.  
  
“You're not actually from here, are you?” He interrupted Moira who had been explaining something about the palace. Gabriel hadn't spared her any attention, too wrapped up in his own sulking. “Why would you stay here?”  
  
“I see we have lots to work on, starting from your etiquette,” she sighed, turning around once again to face Gabriel. Her robe flared around her and it reminded Gabriel of a dark flower blossoming, a bad omen of worse things to come. “But to answer your question, no I'm not from here. I originally come from a vassal country like yours,” and there she smirked cruelly in response to Gabriel's clenched teeth at her remark. “I have found more resources here in the Empire's capital than everywhere else, so I remained. And in the meantime I got to play as the Emperor's lapdog like everyone else.”  
  
If Gabriel had to be honest, she creeped him out. As she resumed walking towards her, _their_ , destination, Gabriel followed but couldn't stop the uneasy feeling from clenching his stomach together with the resentment and hurt. His skin was crawling under his dark fur coat, useless now that they were inside the palace's wall and the air felt warm and stiff to the point of suffocation. Thankfully a gush of fresh air, that same cold air that he had despised not one hour before, hit them when they reached an open corridor full of columns.  
  
The corridor led to a luxurious garden full of trees and plants that Gabriel had never seen before, so different from what he was used to, with their thin leaves that looked like needles and bark peeling off as if it were old skin. Even the vegetation didn’t help him feel any less out of place, and surrounded by Moira’s meaningless blathering of praise and vanity, Gabriel felt that if he did not run now from this prison closing in, he would die.  
  
The idea hit him then, sudden like lighting. What if he actually escaped? He could run through the garden and climb up one of those odd trees that was close enough to the walls to jump out. There was no armor on him to be of hindrance so he could easily do it, his body still in good shape due to years of war and strict discipline. After that, he could find a horse to steal –he wouldn't be proud of himself for that but it was a means to an end –and fuck politics and his father, he would return home. Monastic life to follow, probably.  
  
Before he could think this through, his feet had already halted, the new leather of his boots cracking at his sudden shift in direction and there went Gabriel, jumping over the bushes and into the green of the garden. He could hear Moira's voice calling for him to stop but without much feeling, like she almost expected for something like this to happen. With a leap akin to that of a horse, Gabriel landed on the soft grass and from there it was a zigzag run between the trees; he passed through many before finally stopping to lean against the trunk of one of them to get some breath back. The cold air was stinging once again, and this time his overworked lungs did too.  
  
Huddling up once again inside his fur coat, Gabriel thought about what to do. Taking off the coat and leaving it there was out of question –it might make him lighter but he probably would freeze to death without it. Though now that he looked around… the palace looked so small from afar yet there were no walls in sight. Where had he ended up? Did the imperial palace just open in the woods or was the garden just this wide? Gabriel didn't know which direction to take.  
  
He lifted his head to stare above the treetops, and noticed that the pale sun was inching his way to the horizon; he would need to make a decision soon. Turning back was not an option, even if it meant being disowned by his own family and possibly another war. Nobody could actually agree to live in such a golden cage and still have their dignity and some sort of peace of mind, he didn't believe it. He could only go forward then. Away from the palace.  
  
Step after step Gabriel advanced carefully in that unknown place, cautious of the songs of the birds, as dark as the foliage they inhabited. Their shrills were so foreign to him that they almost hurt his ears, not easing his fears at all. Then suddenly… a familiar sound –a horse neighing. What Gabriel had been hoping for.  
  
Trying to be both fast and as silent as possible, he moved close enough to the source of the noise to see it was coming from two beautiful mares: one of a brown so light it looked gold and the other an unblemished white, shiny fur and strong legs making them tower high over the bushes they were tied to. Both were wearing some of the finest harnesses Gabriel had ever seen, satchels full of necessities, making him wonder who owned such beautiful beasts. Some noble might be around in those same woods. He’d better not let his guard down then. Hands upfront to not spook the animals, he advanced toward them.  
  
The white mare was the first to approach him, her warm muzzle sniffing his hand in search of treats. What a spoiled horse, but he had no time to think about who could have had the chance to care about their animal this well. Gabriel could hear voices chatting from somewhere close by. He had to _act_. Trying to not make a mess, he untied the reins. The white mare remained calm, but the golden mare wasn't of the same idea as her partner and she neighed loudly, rising up on her hind legs and throwing Gabriel off balance by the sheer strength with whom she pulled on the reins.  
  
Gabriel stumbled backwards and thought he found the ground under his feet for a moment, but he slipped on a treacherous rock and fell through the bushes. His head didn't hit the forest floor only because the heavy coat he was wearing cushioned it with the dark fur of its big collar. Once he opened his eyes again (he didn't realize he had closed them until that moment), there was a pale blue sky looking down at him and his poor figure. Also the voices he had previously heard had stopped talking. Gabriel shuffled around gracelessly, half trapped within the bushes, and that was when he saw them.  
  
A couple of people. Actually –three. A beautiful woman with brown skin and straight black hair dressed in a dark blue worth of a princess, holding a very young child in her arms and her companion, a guy around Gabriel's age with hair as gold as the sun and pale skin, wearing clothes of a soft sky blue, sitting on a bench in the middle of a clearing.  
  
They were so painfully beautiful to look at, like one of those foreign paintings that Gabriel had loved, leaving him speechless yet he must have interrupted their amiable chat with his fall, given that the man was unsheathing a rapier.  
  
Gabriel lifted both hands in a wordless gesture of surrender, brain scrambling to remember what little he could about Akande’s lessons before Gabriel had been forced to leave. He sounded hesitant and what he said probably was more of a mockery of ‘no arm’ than anything sensible, but it was enough for the man not to impale him with his blade.  
  
For that he was very appreciative, thank you, considering he had no weapon to defend himself with. He guessed that came with being a hostage. The man was sheathing his rapier away at his side and Gabriel let out a tense breath.  
  
A blade in-between his eyes was by no means a good way to part from this world, but contrarily to Gabriel’s hopes, rather than just put his sword away and cease interactions, the man rose from the bench and walked towards Gabriel, leaving behind his lovely companion. He walked with purpose, elegant and secure, and in any other occasion that would have been something Gabriel could have admired, but now it only made him wary about a confrontation.  
  
Gabriel did not look like an assassin, nor would he make for a good one, so there was no need for a cocky noble to come at him or shame him further for his fumbling, or worse! –yet the man stopped by him and bent down, offering him a hand.  
  
When he spoke his voice was deep and a bit raspy, calm and nice to listen to, and even if Gabriel didn't exactly get everything that he said he knew enough words to understand that the sentence meant “are you alright?”  
  
Surprised by that turns of event since he was still fearing for the blade that could kill him, Gabriel looked up at the man. This noble in his shiny boots and rich azure clothes, his blond hair that the last rays of sun made light up like a halo, in a position of power over Gabriel... was gently smiling down and offering a hand to _him_ , a foreigner barely speaking the same language and sprawled on the forest floor, to take it and rise up. Gabriel could see no malice on that face, strong jaw relaxed and brows not furrowed, and the sight left him breathless.  
  
If there was some kind of depiction of a divine messenger, Gabriel had just found something far more suited for it. Something better. Someone better.  
  
He took the offered hand.  
  
 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is me birthday and what better way to celebrate it than with a new chapter?

The hold on his hand was strong. This pretty noble sure had some muscles hidden under those fair clothes. For a moment Gabriel marveled at the existence of such a creature until the warm hand holding his own pulled him up to his feet. Well, he should have expected that but still it came as a surprise.  
  
Once he was standing again, the man didn't stop his care for Gabriel. He dusted him off of the dirt and dry leaves that stuck to Gabriel's pelt as if it was normal for a noble to just do so for someone he’d just met. Either this person didn’t know better or he had no care about hierarchy… or maybe things worked differently in this side of the world, or… or he actually was a divine messenger, about to divulge a task specifically tailored for Gabriel from the heavens.  
  
No matter what though the man did not shut up, speaking more words Gabriel couldn’t understand while his lovely companion laughed from where she was seated, the child cradled against her chest. There was a bush of yellow flowers behind her and Gabriel for a moment wondered if somebody had set up all of this, knowing that he would fall in that exact point and the bush would be right behind her, making her seem far lovelier and more beautiful due to that.  
  
After a moment she also stood up, coming closer to them with the child tight in her arms. So close Gabriel could see the black line under her left eye, possibly more of a tattoo than simple makeup. It was something that he didn't recognize immediately but that seemed to him foreign, not part of this cold land at all.  
  
Her voice had a weird accent and a teasing inflection when she spoke, but it sounded so good natured that even Gabriel could understand there was an important bond between those two people and he wondered if they might be lovers. It would have destroyed the image of the divine messenger but honestly they were of such beauty, both of them, that it would be almost odd for them to not be together and double their charm.  
  
The two kept talking, face turned to each other, but sadly Gabriel couldn't catch more than some spare words that didn't give him any context until the man turned to him again and brought one hand up to his chest.  
  
"I'm Jack."  
  
That was something that Gabriel could understand. The woman too spoke, moving only to lull the baby in her arms. She said more complex words that were difficult for Gabriel to understand given her accent but he did get a "my name is Ana" among the rest. So that was the moment of introductions. Gabriel knew how to do that! He kind of wished Akande was there to be proud of him if he managed not to make an ass out of himself. Only if he did that, though.  
  
"My name is Gabriel," he said, maybe a bit slow and omitting the prince part but hey, still better playing safe. Who knew about Jack and what his personality was. Maybe his mood was mutable like the sea and the wrong word would gladly have him take his rapier in hand once again. Even if he didn't seem the type, given how energetically he was shaking Gabriel's hand in greeting.  
  
The child in Ana's arms laughed. Or cried. One of those sounds that were difficult to recognize for people like Gabriel who weren't familiar wild children. It was enough though to steal the interest away from him and to the child.  
  
Jack turned his head to exchange more words with Ana yet his hand kept holding Gabriel's one. They weren't shaking anymore. It was only a hold. Gentle. Maybe a bit too intimate.  
  
Gabriel's thoughts got lost there. He was no longer paying attention to that unintelligible chatter. Instead Jack's hair caught his gaze. It was so odd. People from this place in general were so different from Gabriel’s idea of normality. He was used to dark hair and dark complexion and warm weather, while here instead almost everyone seemed light, pale and cold, just as the place itself was. These Jack and Ana instead stood out. She was more like himself than a northerner and Jack… his hair was aflame with the last sparks of the sun, a halo surrounding him, and his skin… the slice of skin of his neck that Gabriel could see must have been equally fair but there was a red tinge to it now, spreading downward from the scalp of that fair hair down to the edge of his collar.  
  
The last rays of sun must have been deceiving his eyes so Gabriel brought up his other hand to his brows, massaging them. He must be tired. And stressed. For a moment, he cherished the comforting darkness behind his closed eyelids.  
  
Ana must have noticed his state though and brought the conversation back to him because Jack turned to him once again and spoke words that Gabriel didn't understand, but seemed laced with worry.  
  
His hands came up to support Gabriel's arm, brushing the dark fur for invisible particles like he hadn't done a good enough job earlier in his rescue&cleaning and his eyes fixed on him, their blue too intense to hold. They were around the same height, more or less, but Gabriel felt so small in the shadow of that gaze.  
  
As if his hands had never been on Gabriel and the dirt of his fur, Jack brought one hand up to his mouth, thumb and index poised between his lips and whistled. For a brief moment Gabriel was mesmerized by such a sight, so close to his face, but his reverie got disrupted by the white mare that he had tried to steal not long before now gently bumping into him to make him move and leave her the space to bask in the glory of Jack. Or so seemed to say the satisfied expression on her face the moment that Jack scratched her under the chin and chided her with sweet words. Or at least Gabriel thought that it was chiding. He would have reprimanded the animal for pushing him aside. He was still a prince after all! In incognito, but a prince!  
  
Instead Jack was pampering her snout with caresses and kisses, something that only a person really close to their horse would do, taking such a tender care of a powerful beast, and usually nobles weren't that kind of people. It made Gabriel smile and then out of the blue it hit him. Jack was still holding his arm with the other hand and he didn't know what to do about it, besides having his mind running in circles on the subject.  
  
A puff of air hit Gabriel on his right cheek while he was enraptured by Jack's display, and he turned toward the source, trying not to squeak inelegantly. The golden mare had joined them as well, and she still wasn't fond of him, it seemed. With a superior snort she proceeded toward Ana, bumping Gabriel aside along the way with the roundness of her belly and almost pushing him against Jack. Gabriel recoiled quickly while Jack seemed to not have noticed what happened and kept smiling like he was made of sunshine and cuddles at his own mare.  
  
Ana too spent a few sweet words on her beast before putting the child on the saddle and rummaging through the bag hanging on its side. She was quite trusting about the child not falling down that for a split second Gabriel was envious of her self-confidence, or recklessness. A baby that must have been around 1 or 2 years old at most (in his defense Gabriel wasn't a child expert) on such a big animal was for sure breaking some kind of unwritten maternal rule. When Ana finished and emerged from the bag, there was a long ribbon in her hands. She quickly tied it around her chest and back with expert hands, knots and overlaps that Gabriel didn't understand the use of until Ana picked up the child again and slid them in between all the ribbons to press the small head against her heart and lovingly smoothing down the dark hair. So it was a sling then. Smart.  
  
Gabriel spied that with the corner of his eye though. The rest of him was still trying to not die of embarrassment for almost falling into Jack's arms. The man had let go of him, a small freedom for whom Gabriel wasn't feeling too enthusiastic about as he should have been but that gave him the perfect excuse to shrink once more in his fur coat.  
  
Once checked that the saddle was secured right, thigh but not overly so to cut into the mare's belly, Jack deftly mounted atop of the animal and extended his hand once again for Gabriel to take like he were some sort of prince charming straight out of a fairytale. The worst was that it wouldn't even be wrong.  
  
It was such a captivating image that Gabriel couldn't help but blush again. He could hide his cheeks between the fluffiness of his fur collar though and that was the best barrier that Gabriel could get between himself and this… noble, so to avoid creating a scandal at that foreign court he had just arrived to and already tried so desperately to leave, which was the reason why he had been trying to steal a horse.  
  
Yet there was once again that hand in front of his face, inviting him to take it. And at the other end, Jack smiling.  
  
A part of Gabriel cursed at him in that moment –for finding a foreign noble he could barely understand, interesting enough to even consider accepting his offer to return to the palace and to a captive life that Gabriel had wanted to avoid. Twice damned. Yet, Jack was smiling, the dying sun playing with his fair hair and face open like the divine messenger Gabriel still thought he was, standing straight and tall on his stead, strong hand there for Gabriel to take.  
  
Make him thrice damned, Gabriel took his hand once again.  
  
With a strong pull of his arm, Jack helped Gabriel to straddle the horse behind him. There was space enough for the both of them on top of the saddle if they kept close. The mare huffed at the added weight of another fully grown man but didn't seem to be bothered by it that much. Well, she should be thankful that he wasn't wearing his armor then.  
  
The horse turned around in the direction of the palace without any need for Jack to pull on her reins, showing off how well trained she was. Without further ado, the golden mare followed them until they were next to one another, with Ana riding on her. They kept up a gentle gait on a well-tread trail in the shadow of the secular trees, flanking each other all the time. There was no need to overexert the horses.  
  
As opposed to his attempt at running away, returning to the palace was a quick affair. Or so it seemed to Gabriel. Between the comforting lull of the words exchanged in whispers between Jack and Ana, a soft, foreign lullaby, and the worries that had latched onto him all along the journey to the defeater reign until the moment he came up with an half assed tentative of escape that had his nerves give up on any pretense of being composed, Gabriel felt an incommensurable tiredness coming onto him. He might have dozed a bit, or a long while, against Jack's wide back.  
  
The white walls of the palace came slowly closer like an absurd nightmare, the kind that seems impossible to the mind, logically, and yet still happens upon a person without their will. A condescending white monster insensible to human suffering that loomed menacing over Gabriel. He gripped tighter the soft blue fabric of Jack's jacket. It felt like velvet against his forehead. No, Gabriel wasn't hiding. Nor was he defeated. He was accepting his momentary imprisonment in this golden cage until the best occasion to destroy the empire from the inside arose.

 

* * *

  
  
  
  
Moira wasn't pacing at the stables’ entrance like a person worried to lose their position at court. The exact opposite, actually. She was sitting on the fence of the closest corral, so unlike a noble, intently inspecting her long nails.  
  
Gabriel had recognized her even from afar, her ginger hair a dead giveaway, so he’d had the time to mentally prepare himself to face her wrath.  
  
He hadn't be the only one to spot her though. Ana and Jack too must have seen her gloomy figure while riding toward the stables to let their steads rest for the day. While Ana huffed at the sight though, so similar to her mare, Jack started chatting up the scholar as soon as they were in hearing range. Gabriel could feel the movement of Jack's ribcage vibrating against his cheek and chest with every word that the man said. It wasn't like he was hugging the nobleman. Not at all. He was just trying not to fall from the horse and Jack happened to be the closest, easiest thing for Gabriel to grip on.  
  
There were no words he could catch though, so he didn't know what they were shouting about. Jack was the one doing most of the shouting though. Moira seemed indifferent to the change of program that Gabriel had tried to achieve, nothing more than a simple mishap on her schedule. Something that actually didn't bother her at all. Such disinterest made the blood run cold into Gabriel's veins. He was supposed to regularly spend time with the woman to learn about the foreign court, but if this was the premise, he wasn't sure they could accomplish much together.  
  
Sometimes Ana said something as well, and mostly in an annoyed tone. Gabriel saw the furtive glances she threw at him and if he wasn't mistaken, he could read worry in her dark eyes. Was he in so much trouble? He wouldn't have though so. Unless Moira was the kind of person driven by a cold rage, plotting revenge in the long run. Then again he had attempted to escape her presence to run away, so there was a reason for her possible wrath…  
  
Finally, she addressed him. “I assume that your highness his satisfied with his exploration of the Palace's surroundings for now.” There was finality in her tone, like the words she said were nice and respectful only on the surface. It was a command actually hidden under them. ‘Don't pull this shit on me again Gabriel’. Such a quick change from her previous demeanor that Gabriel almost got whiplash. She was looking straight at him over Jack's shoulder with her mismatched eyes. He nodded silently, not daring to confront her and get even more on her bad side.  
  
"Now if you would like to follow me so I can show you your rooms…" Moira eased herself down from the fence with a fluid movement, her long legs already not far from the drying grass as the fabric of her tunic fluttered around them like a mocking of a dark butterfly. She didn't even wait for him to dismount the mare before turning around and walking to the Palace’s main building.  
  
Gabriel quickly jumped down from the beast and muttered a thank you to the couple who had brought him back to the place, before following in pursuit of Moira. It would have been a lie to say that Gabriel didn't turn around multiple times to look at them. While Ana soon dismounted from her horse and brought her inside the barracks for the maintenance routine after a ride, Jack remained sitting straight on his mount, eyes never leaving Gabriel's back. A gentle smile grazed his face whenever Gabriel was looking in his direction. Or maybe it never went away, in fact gaining the title of longest smile that Gabriel had ever seen. It made something bubble up inside of him whenever he turned and on one hand Gabriel was glad to be so far away from him that Jack couldn't notice the blush creeping up on his cheeks.  
  
When Jack had become nothing but a silhouette far away, Gabriel timidly rose his hand in a common gesture of salute. Jack answered in kinds. It might have been his mind playing tricks on him, the light of the dying sun or whatever other thing that excused such thing, but Gabriel could still see the faint traces of a smile on that distant face. It definitely wasn't hope.  
  
So far, Gabriel had met more nice people than bad ones and he was thankful for that. He knew that things now were going to be different from what he was used to back home. It wouldn't be honest to say that he wasn't feeling any wariness in the depths of his heart, even a hint of fear one might say, but that was how things were going to be from then onwards. Gabriel would better get used to the unfamiliarity and strangeness of it all because there was no turning back now.  
  
He had missed his first opportunity by sheer bad luck (even if it was hard for Gabriel to say that when Jack's smile was still so bright in his memory, and if he tried hard enough he could still feel the warmth of the man's back against his hands and chest). It didn't mean that Gabriel had given up on eventually escaping, though.  
  
Jogging up to Moira, Gabriel didn't know how to attempt a conversation with the woman. She was the only person, as far as he knew, with whom he could talk to. It was an unfortunate happenstance. Thankfully for him, she was the one to start, turning around to face him with her arms crossed in front of her as her nail tapped rhythmically.  
  
“If his highness is satisfied with discovering the Palace's grounds, maybe next time he'll think of giving a warning before disappearing.”  
  
The flush that Jack had previously caused was now back full force but for different reasons.  
There it was, the anger that Moira was hiding before, rightfully aimed at Gabriel. He wanted to lessen his bad position, say some half-hearted excuse, but Moira didn't leave him time to open his mouth.  
  
“Hoping that ‘next time’ will not be tomorrow, since tomorrow is the ceremony day and it would be extremely unbecoming, if not even dishonorable, to be late to such kind of event... Not that I would ever think this sort of action would be at the level of such a prince like his highness and that he would effectively decide to disappear tomorrow.”  
  
For a moment, Gabriel felt a sliver of worry as Moira did not seem to be breathing through her monologue, even as she continued.  
  
“I fully believe that his highness knows _perfectly_ what such an action would entail for all our countries, yet I am in the position to have to remind him of it.”  
  
She was smiling a pleased smile tainted of smugness. “Sometimes people tend to be forgetful. I'm here for this reason too.”  
  
“Thank you Moira...” Gabriel tried to put on his most sincere expression possible, even if he failed miserably. “And… sorry.”  
  
“Good, you're smarter than you look.” She smirked at him, uncrossing her arms as her eyes shone in a different way. She didn't seem bored any longer.  
  
Frowning at the change of tone and the veiled insult, Gabriel closed tighter the front of his fur coat with a hand. “Thank you..?”  
  
He wasn't used to such disrespect from someone with a lower position than himself and it made him wonder what kind of society existed up north to let something of that kind happen. “Now if you could bring me to my forsaken rooms...”  
  
With his powerful strides, Gabriel went ahead of Moira, but stopped not far when he didn't hear her steps following him.  
  
She was still in the same spot, hands jointed almost at the level of her face as if she was contemplating something. Still terrifying with her dark fingers no matter how sweet her smile might have seemed.  
  
“One last advice, Gabriel.” She was blunt, too much for Gabriel's liking. “Don't get in your head to flirt with other nobles here at court. It's all bad news, especially that prince John.”  
  
Speechless for a brief moment at the accusations and blushing once again, Gabriel suddenly let go of his coat when he heard the new name, not recognizing it. Surprise and a bit of hurt took over the indignation. Had Jack, a perfect stranger who Gabriel had just met, told him a lie right off the bat? He could taste disappointment, even if he didn't understand why, on his tongue as he said his next words. “I don't know any prince John and I wasn't flirting with anyone.”  
  
“Sure you weren't.” she taunted him and finally moved in the palace's direction.  
  
Would it make any difference to rebut the accusation? Or to order Moira to drop the subject? Gabriel wasn't sure she would listen to him, and her mocking would only sour his already sulky mood.  
  
“Whatever, show me my rooms. I'm tired.”  
  
“As his highness wishes.” Moira bowed next to him, mismatched eyes never leaving his face to catch even the slightest change of expression, a powerful predator hidden in the slender body of a woman. She was dangerous and once more Gabriel felt shivers run down his back. He wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly smiled and instead of teeth she showed sharp fangs. Yet when she rose, she looked as innocent as only a scholar could be. A harmless creature that was there only to be Gabriel's guide. The hem of her robe danced on the soil as she walked soundlessly.  
  
With a grunt, Gabriel followed her.  
  
  
  


 


	3. Chapter 3

There was a letter on the desk of his room.  
  
Gabriel had said a hasty goodbye to Moira and barely put his foot inside the place before he noticed it. It waited there for him almost innocently, the yellowish white of its paper a stark contrast with the rich brown of the wood. What was most worrying about it though was the wax that sealed it. He was already getting nervous just by looking at the red stain of it.  
  
The fatigue of the travels and the events of the day were crushing him all of sudden now that he was somewhere private, but Gabriel could feel the eyes of the owl carved inside the wax by his father's ring fixing him. Taunting him. Challenging him.  
  
 _‘Open this letter Gabriel.’  
  
_ He could hear his father's voice as if he was next to him, commanding his son to do things as his usual, yet his father _wasn't_ there and Gabriel was still very angry at him. Furious even, for being forced into this cruel path.  
  
A hostage at the imperial court. That was what Gabriel had become!  
  
Instead of opening the envelope, Gabriel fell on the bed like a dead weight. He kind of wished to be. What was the point of rising up again and going on living if it was not in his control, if he could not decide how it would be?  
  
He was no longer Gabriel of the House of Reyes, third of his name and second in the line of succession to the Throne of Titán. He was no longer a prince. He was no longer a free man.  
  
Sighing loudly, even if there was nobody there to listen to his woes, Gabriel rolled around on the mattress.  
  
The room was scarcely decorated but clean and well kept. The trunks full to the brim with his belongings had probably been moved there by some beefy servants. They were still closed. It would be up to him to unpack and place his possessions somewhere. In a corner, an empty library, a drawer and the desk where the infamous letter was still waiting for him. Gabriel turned his back to it.  
  
The last rays of the sun were filtering through heavy curtains with a breeze and for a moment Gabriel wondered how long the sunset actually was this up north. Did it last longer in Adlersbrunn or was only Gabriel being extremely tired and messing things up in his brain?  
  
No matter what his brain said, the light wind gushed inside the room, its gentle coolness calming his overworked mind.  
  
There was a balcony outside the big window, Gabriel could see the stone columns of the railing from where he was laying down. It was something worth investigating, but not in that exact moment.  
  
There was already so much on his mind, and soreness in his muscles.  
  
Yet he seemed to not be able to find a proper position to rest. Gabriel was hoping for a quick nap to get some energy back but sleep just wasn't coming. The bed was comfortable but too big. Even with his arms wide open, Gabriel couldn't reach the edges. He briefly considered visiting the toilet room connected to the bedroom but that too would be too much effort.  
  
The only thing left to do was to be in company of his own mind and Gabriel didn't like that in the least because it would mean having to think about his situation and his failed attempt at escaping and Jack or John or whatever his name was. It definitely wasn't Gabriel's day.  
  
Every time he closed his eyelids and hoped for the dark comforting embrace of sleep to welcome him he saw Jack's smile instead, or the back of his head where the fine hair shone in the light. It was a nightmarish kaleidoscope of pictures of Jack, fragments of him that picked up Gabriel's attention composing an even prettier, if possible, image of him. Truly bittersweet.  
  
Gabriel didn't understand why that man would lie about his name. On one hand he was thankful they couldn't speak the same language yet, otherwise he didn't want to think about how many more lies Jack could have told him. It was a despicable behavior in Gabriel's book, hypocritically forgiven when he was the one committing it.  
  
Yet he couldn't stop thinking about the man, his warmness...  
  
An insistent knocking woke Gabriel up.  
  
It was dark and he didn't know where he was. It was an unfamiliar place. Not his room. It was even if he was wearing... a fur coat?  
  
Then it downed on him. Right. Adlersbrunn. The hostage situation.  
  
He must have fallen asleep in the end, without realizing.  
  
By the time that Gabriel was up, after having shuffled better in the coat, the knocking at the door had ceased. Still, he went to open it, beware of his surroundings to not knock anything over in the darkness since he hadn't memorized yet the layout of the room. Not that there was much in it to be knocked over to be honest.  
  
Nobody was at the door, leaving Gabriel baffled for a moment until he realized that he could see some of the closest features of the entrance room.  
  
There was a candle on the floor! It was on top of a tray, next to something that Gabriel guessed was supposed to be his dinner.  
  
Careful to not blow off the candle, Gabriel brought the tray inside the bedroom to deposit it on the desk, moving the forsaken letter aside.  
  
The owl was still looking at him from the wax, its condescending manners not diminished at all by the darkness. It looked even more menacing if possible, with its bad news. The night was its kingdom indeed.  
  
Ignoring the envelope, Gabriel proceeded to scarf down the food. A creamy soup with mushrooms, meat cut in small cubes with a sauce of mushrooms and some slices of bread. It wasn't a taste that Gabriel particularly enjoyed but in absence of proper food, even that triumph of mushrooms would do.  
  
After some sleep and food in the belly, a certain amount of energy was back in his body. And some calmness of the mind too. Gabriel felt restored enough to face his next, closest enemy: his father's letter.  
  
His hands were lightly trembling when he picked up the envelope, as much as his brows were furrowed, but he almost sighed in satisfaction when the seal popped off, his father's effigy crumbling.  
  
The handwriting looked pleasant as usual yet it gave him a knot in the stomach.   
  
_  
Dear Gabriel, my son, my beloved son.  
  
_ _I imagine that you will be most displeased to receive this letter from me, an_ _d just as much_ _about your involvement in this affair.  
  
_ _It pains me that I could not tell you any of this in person, but we lacked the time to discuss the matter together. This letter might not soothe your hurt, but it is needed so you will understand why I had to send you away.  
  
_ _I urge you to remember, though, that the good of a country is far more important than the good of a single person, even more so if they are of Royal Blood. We are but humble servants of our Nation. It is your time to accept this weight on your shoulder, regardless of your young age.  
  
_ _That's the reason why you find yourself in Adlersbrunn. You might wonder why it had to be you and not one of your siblings.  
  
_ _By the will of the Gods, we didn't win the war against the empire_ _of the northerners yet_ _we didn't lose either. They chose an alliance for us.  
  
_ _Yet Aldersbrunn having more force than us, decided the price we would have to pay. A prince, the second prince in the line of succession, shall be an ambassador of our kingdom for the empire. Not the one destined to be crowned king, Gods willing, but one who holds a strong position at court. One day in the far future you will return home wiser, a vessel of peace between these two countries who were once at war.  
  
As I hope you will grow thanks to this experience, you will not need me to remind you to be careful of those who surround you, those you will choose to keep at your side to protect you, and who you will need to protect back. The imperial court is not known to be a quiet place. Scandals are always behind the corner waiting to happen. No need to help them. Beware of snakes.   
  
__With utmost love,  
  
_ _King Eduardo of the house of Reyes of Titán, the second of his name,  
  
_ _Your father_  
  
  
Gabriel crumpled the letter in his hand. It didn't make him feel any better. He was still angry at his father, but mostly he was feeling hurt. And the food he had eaten had stopped somewhere in his stomach, feeling like a heavy weight.  
  
Both his hands were in his hair, covering his eyes from the feeble light, without him realizing. The letter laid once more on the desk, now a wrinkly ball. It was too much for him, all happening in the span of a single day.  
  
With a sigh, Gabriel throw himself once again on the bed. He discarded the fur coat quickly and slid his once again tired body under the covers. They were soft and soon become warm with the presence of his body, yet he still felt cold in his core.  
  
It was wishful thinking of him, but he wished to not open his eyes again.  
  


 

* * *

 

  
  
Contrarily to his hopes, Gabriel did wake up again… with a bad taste in his mouth and Moira and another woman looking at him from the feet of the bed, but he did wake up again. Definitely not a pleasant wake up call.  
  
“Who is she?” his voice was gravely, never used to talk so soon after waking, and he covered his eyes with one hand to protect them from the sun filtering through the big window.  
  
Moira had a far too pleased smile on her face, which complimented her robes perfectly –robes he could only describe as those of a witch. They probably were not, yet Gabriel could not think of any clothes that would resemble a sorcerer’s attire as much as those.  
  
“Tsk, not even a good morning from his highness,” she chided him with her falsely friendly tone. “It's an important day for you today! And this is Amélie. She will be your lady in waiting, as it is befitting of somebody of your status.”  
  
Amélie barely looked up when her name was mentioned, like it was a pure lucky chance that the two thing happened at the same moment. Like it did not concern her at all and that it did not mean she had to pay attention. She seemed more interested in caressing the softness of the fur of Gabriel's coat that she was holding in her sickly pale hands.  
  
“She speaks your language as well, so you will not constantly need my help in translating your basic necessities to your attendant.”  
  
To spite Moira and get the first good feeling of the morning, Gabriel greeted Amélie in titánol. “ _Good morning_.”  
  
The woman finally seemed to pay attention, answering back to him, her voice melodious.  
  
As Moira explained the details for the day, nose wrinkled in distaste at Gabriel's pettiness, Amélie rummaged through the trunks and the drawer to put away his belongings, coat neatly folded and laid atop of the now closed truck.  
  
Gabriel moved to the desk to eat the breakfast that somebody had brought in the bedroom, exchanging the new tray with the one of the dinner he’d had the previous night. Thankfully there was no mushroom in sight, but Gabriel preferred to stick only to the fruit pieces served in a delicate bowl.  
  
As he looked up, Amélie laid out on the bed an attire Gabriel had never seen before.  
  
“This is the first present for the day that the Emperor gifted to your Highness for the ceremony of alliance. If he could take care of his personal hygiene now, I will then help your Highness get ready.”  
  
Oh, another blunt one. Gabriel couldn't believe his luck. Was it possible he had a magnet on himself that only attracted outspoken subordinates? And well, tall women as well, it seemed, since those two were both tall, women and his subordinates. Go figure.  
  
Finishing the last slice of apple, Gabriel rose from the chair and moved to the enclosed bathroom like he was weighted down by an entire world of burdens. In a sense, he _was_. Today was the day that would seal his fate. He did not even care to look around the room to check if everything worked the same way it did back home, or if the northerners had come up with some new contraptions for personal care.  
  
Taking off his traveling clothes mechanically, Gabriel turned on the water and waited for the bathtub to fill. The water gurgled through the old pipes before cascading out of the faucet. He could understand the feeling and for a moment wondered how badly was he reacting to the situation if he was feeling empathic toward water and disused pipes.  
  
The bath was a quick affair, no leisure in it for the prince since after that he had to face the whole court. He just took care to vigorously scrub off every possible trace of dirt from the long trip from his skin and long hair and then he was out of the tube, a fluffy towel in hand to dry off most of the wetness.  
  
Not caring about possibly hurting the sensitivity of the two ladies in the other room, Gabriel tied the towel around his hips and exited the bathroom.  
  
Amélie remained stone-faced, rising the undergarments in his direction, while Moira massaged her brows with a hand at the sight of an half naked prince. If he so wished, he could be blunt as well, not to mention completely disrespectful.  
  
“So, _prince_ Gabriel, do you know how the ceremony is going to unfold today?” she asked after a sigh, lowering the hand from her face to cross her arms in front of her chest.  
  
Gabriel took the underwear from Amélie and thanked her. “I have absolutely no idea. Please care to elaborate?” there was some venom in his tone, but not even Gabriel knew if it was pointed towards Moira or at the whole situation.  
  
“I feared so,” Moira started pacing around the room, avoiding to step on Gabriel's feet as he slid the clothes under the towel or Amélie's one while she got new items for the prince to wear.  
  
“It's going to take place in the throne room as that is where all the official ceremonies take place, obviously. The whole court is going to be there, each one of them faker than the other standing together, nodding and smiling at every word that The Emperor is going to say today like the good obedient dogs they are. Ready to attack as soon as someone turns their back on them.” She had reached the other side of the bedroom and with a swift movement she threw open the curtains of the big window.  
  
Some wind gushed in and Gabriel, not yet fully dressed, felt the goosebumps rise on his skin. He quickly shuffled into a white ruffled shirt. “Is everyone just as amiable in this goddamn place?!”  
  
“They're sweet to the bone,” she answered back full of sarcasm and Amélie laughed. She probably didn't understand what they said but their faces must have been enough to elicit her mirth.  
  
“And the Emperor will then place a circlet on your forehead.” Moira kept explaining, turning around once more and pacing the room in the other direction. “I don't know how long a speech he will make, but he's an old boar who likes to boast, so be prepared to stay on your knees for a long while.”  
  
“Can't wait for it...” he hoped that the Emperor would be hot at least, if he had to spend lots of time on his knees in front of him. For a brief second he imagined Jack as the Emperor, shining in a golden armor from head to toe but then he remembered that it wasn't likely. Prince John wasn't The Emperor.  
  
“And then the Emperor will spend the rest of the day with you to illustrate you your new position and your duties, while the other dogs are partying on wine and wild game hunted for the occasion.”  
  
“The sooner I'm rid of them, the better.” Gabriel was completely dressed in the new clothes, courtesy of the Emperor, and he cut an astonishing figure with his shapely legs in black tight pants and calf boots and muscly shoulders covered by a dark red jacket over the white shirt. He could say so because Amélie had brought a full length mirror from the bathroom and Gabriel was twirling in front of it to admire every inch of his body. The northerners had the habit of covering themselves up a lot for obvious reasons, but it was a fashion that somehow did justice to his beautiful body. If it weren't for the horrible bags under his eyes, Gabriel would have looked magnificent. Even his beard didn't need to be trimmed yet! But then yeah, a look in his dead tired eyes and the charm was all gone out of the window.  
  
Moira came up behind him and Gabriel could see her mismatched eyes never leaving his reflection in the mirror. “We like some composure here,” she said as she produced a red ribbon out of nowhere and tied his curl in a low tail with it. “There. Now you look perfect.”  
  
Gabriel wanted to answer her back with some well-deserved snark, but Amélie came up to him with a black fur mantle in her hands. It wasn't the fur coat that he had been wearing during his trip. It was a new glossy mantle with a trail and a golden chain to keep it closed.  
  
“This is the last part.” She said, the heavy accent of her mother tongue a melodious interruption. “The Emperor is a kind heart, be careful.”  
  
That was one of the oddest warning that Gabriel had ever received but he supposed he couldn't find out how much of it was truth until he met the Emperor in person. Even in his warm clothes, Gabriel felt as cold as a tomb while Moira chatted about this procedure and that other one. Without further ado he wore the mantle, clasping it tightly on his chest, and the trio exited Gabriel's apartments.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
There was a reason why Aldersbrunn was the capital of the Empire, and Gabriel realized it as soon as he put his foot inside the throne room.  
  
The ceiling was rather high, and he thought it possible that one could stack two normal rooms one on top of the other and there would still be space left in the hall. And its vaults, dear Gods its vaults. A masterpiece of art, finely painted in all the colors of the world, depicting what probably was the history of the Empire itself. The windows had no reason to be envious of the ceiling. They too were full of color, shards of glass in different hues put together like a mosaic to show off more artistic skills as the light of the sun filtered in making beautiful rainbow colors dance on the white marble floor. Or so Gabriel thought. Sadly the colored lights were wasted on him due to the sore note of the day. Thousands of heads turned in his direction when a herald announced his arrive.  
  
Courtiers of all colors and shapes were present, wearing the most expensive clothes that Gabriel had ever seen, and it made it difficult to recognize who was the actual noble and who was their retinue.  
  
It was an overwhelming feeling to be the center of attention when there was so much beauty around him.  
  
“Hang in there,” he could hear Amélie whisper behind him and somehow it calmed him a bit. There were two people there whose duty was to be his backup, willingly or not. They were in his same situation. Oddly enough it made Gabriel feel less lonely.  
  
There went nothing.  
  
Gabriel walked down the red carpet that cut in two the throne room, all eyes on him, but he didn't care. He would probably have nothing to share with most of them even in the future, so why give them any power over him? If they wanted a show, Gabriel would be their entertainment for the day but that would be it. They were going to get nothing more from him than this.  
  
With every step Gabriel got closer to the throne itself and he was surprised to see Ana, her child and Jack or John or whatever his name was standing quite close to the right side of the throne. He didn't expect to see them so high up in the hierarchy.  
  
Ana was once again one of the prettiest things that Gabriel had ever saw, her hair carefully arranged in cascades of braids crowned by a golden circlet with a blue gem in the middle on her brown forehead and a blue dress decorated with gold thread and precious stones. She had her baby in her arms, dressed in the same blue as the mother and the mop of black hair had suffered an attempt at being styled in tiny braids with more or less success.  
  
Jack or John or whatever… he was beautiful. Breathtaking. The same blue as ever adorned his body with tight pants and a short cape that reached his hips, the hems of white fur exploded around his neck in a soft collar from which his head surfaced like it was floating in a cloud. Gabriel could see with the corner of his eye that he still was smiling his damned gentle smile, a thing of pure beauty. There was a golden circlet on his forehead too, with a stone that seemed white but shone with flashes of other bright colors. He waved imperceptibly, more of a movement of his fingers clad in blue gloves. A shiver ran down Gabriel's back but he tried to not let it show. So not to give the man the satisfaction to see how much he could affect Gabriel. He didn't even know the effect he had on Gabriel probably, yet there they were. But that wasn't his biggest problem at hand right now. No, not at all. Gabriel's biggest problem was sitting on the throne.  
  
The Emperor was… impressive.  
  
Even while sitting he seemed to be one of the tallest people in the entire hall. Gabriel could easily imagine him being even taller than his father, and that was saying something. Though it wasn't only the gigantic stature that made the Emperor so remarkable. The man was no beanpole. There were flesh and muscles under the shiny armor pieces he was wearing. Bulging muscles earned in battle just to remind Gabriel that there was a reason as to why that man was the Emperor, conqueror of the lands, lionheart. And there were scars, too. Some of them hidden, some not, like the one that ran on the left side of his face, right through his eye, proudly displayed. A valiant warrior who had faced the horrors of innumerable wars and had survived. Seeing him like that, it was easy to forget that even by making peace that man had won.  
  
Gabriel walked straight up to him, stopping mere feet away from him and kneeling, as he had been instructed. He could feel Amélie and Moira behind him doing the same and very discreetly adjusting the train of his mantle.  
  
Per contrast, the Emperor rose up, towering over all the room, and his voice boomed loud and clear.  
  
"It's always a joyous day when a prince joins us in Aldersbrunn!"  
  
In response, the whole court clapped back in fake excitement.  
  
When the hubbub calmed down, the Emperor kept going. "Today it's the turn of prince Gabriel of Titán. Our two countries have been at war for 2 years and it has been 2 years too many. But that is done with. A new era of peace between our people will commence today."  
  
Maybe the speech of the Emperor was interesting, maybe his words were inspiring, and strong, yet Gabriel found himself dozing off, though his eyes remained open, his mind elsewhere, chasing the direction of his eyes to the side of the throne. Jack was looking at the Emperor with such admiration that it made Gabriel feel a pang of something in his guts. Something akin to jealousy. He wanted to be the one on the receiving end of it. To have Jack see him in a shining armor and think of him as someone good, not a poor soul lost and fallen on the bottom of the woods. Such a great first impression that had been!  
  
Somebody from behind him pulled his mantle and also Gabriel's attention back to the present.  
  
The Emperor was picking up a golden circlet from a pillow that a guard was holding up for him. There was a red stone hanging down from it, shining like freshly spilled blood. A ruby. From the mines in his homeland probably. Precious and coveted, costing as many lives as the war had. How could such a thin object wield such an heavy weight?  
  
It must have been that the real chains that all the hostages at court wore. Not the circlet itself but what it meant for the precious stone to get there.  
  
With such jewel in his big hands, the Emperor leaned on Gabriel. “Welcome in Adlersbrunn, prince Gabriel.”  
  
Like that, the circlet got surprisingly gently pressed onto his head and Gabriel felt the burden of it. He no longer was a free man. He was officially a hostage now.  
  
The room exploded in a thunderous applause.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Ditching the whole of the court for the rest of the day was probably the best thing that happened to Gabriel that day. The Emperor brought Gabriel to his private office where they consumed a modest meal and lots of ale surrounded by the maps detailing the lands that belonged to the Empire. Gabriel wasn't even offended at the simple food at that point, too taken by the sight of a freshly drawn map of his own country, accurately depicted in every curve of land and sea, names written in elegant calligraphy next to each dot indicating a city.  
  
“My name's Reinhardt,” the Emperor said holding out his hand for Gabriel to shake, surprisingly humble after the hurdle of the ceremony from before.  
  
“I'm Gabriel,” he answered, shaking the offered hand in an assertive grip.  
  
They talked all day long, exploring the palace and avoiding other people, half drunk and half childish, all of Gabriel's resentment forgotten after realizing that there was another lonely human being right in front of him.  
  
The Emperor kept repeating words like peace and the good of everyone, for the good of everyone. Gabriel thought that he was a fool who did not understand the reality he had around him but also that in a different life they would have probably been friends.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally the last chapter where I can show off the beautiful art of both the artists that helped me bring this story to life! Once again, thank you to [ Tomoyo ](https://tomodraws.tumblr.com/) and [ Jellygay ](http://jellygay.tumblr.com/) for the amazing work they've done!
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this adventure till the end!

After the ceremony day, Gabriel kept mostly to himself, with only the company of Moira and Amélie. He tried to avoid the other courtiers, not wanting to get mixed in their drama or political plots. He mostly succeeded, avoiding all but very few attempts, with the excuse of barely speaking the local language.  
  
Even if it wasn't true anymore.  
  
Every day, for at least 4 hours, Moira subjected him to intense language lessons, reading books on grammar and every other subject that could be of interest and relevance to an air quotes, prince of his position, close air quotes, and talking exercises where Amélie was also involved willingly or not, pulling her from whatever she was doing at the moment.  
  
To his surprise Gabriel discovered many things about her, and especially that she actually was a countess but in a declining position at court since the sudden death of her husband, so she had found herself in need to accept the position of his lady in waiting if she wanted to keep up her living standards. It made Gabriel wonder how this court thing here in Aldersbrunn worked. Very differently from the one at his home country it seemed, if a noblewoman without a spouse could be forgotten and disgraced.  
  
A pat on the shoulder had become a full hug after her voice had started cracking while telling her story and her eyes had misted over. Gabriel whispered in her ear gentle words in the language only the two of them could speak and it seemed to calm Amélie down a bit to hear something that achingly familiar. For the rest of that day she had been like a lifeless doll while Moira and Gabriel left her to her private mourning and kept going on their own with the language exercises.  
  
Speaking of which, Gabriel had learned through them more than he cared to know about the Empire and its costumes and trades.  
  
The habit of the hostage cadet had been started by Reinhardt's father when the Empire wasn't yet an empire but only one of the many countries constantly at war with its neighbors to stay alive. Now those same countries were still technically alive, just a part of something bigger.  
  
Something bigger that survived on...  
  
“... Beans? Seriously?” Gabriel said, sarcasm laced with disappointment.  
  
Moira looked at him from across the table like he had just said something completely absurd. “Well no, obviously that's not all. There's a lot of corn in there too to sustain the whole population of the Empire. Sometimes mushrooms too.”  
  
There were many books open and scattered all over the table in between them. The daily lesson for the day was about the nutritional sources of the Empire.  
  
“That's what I thought.” Gabriel so wanted to sound smug about it but the subject was of no interest to him and he couldn't manage to make his face look involved in the conversation at all. He tried to support his head on one hand, but it kept slipping. Both the head and the hand.  
  
Not impressed by his childish behavior, Moira was about to open her mouth once again and talk about some food chain or the other when somebody knocked at the door of the foyer and thankfully stopped her.  
  
Gabriel suddenly perked up, looking at the the door like it was his savior in shining armor, and Amélie, silent as ever, left her embroidery project and went to open.  
  
There was a servant there, holding a letter and something big, covered with a drape and... noisy? Like metal grinding?  
  
All the three of them look at the servant full of questions. The poor servant blushed in response and handed the mail to Amélie, announcing it as being from prince John with a squeaky voice.  
  
It would be a lie to say that Gabriel's face didn't lit up at the mention of the other prince, even if it was by the other name.  
  
Seeing his expression, and knowing what it meant to him, Amélie quickly brought the letter to Gabriel while Moira was left with nothing to do but throw her feet over the table and check her nails.  
  
Gabriel got the piece of paper in his nervous hands and swiftly undid the blue ribbon keeping it close, laying it on the table.  
  
He didn't have any expectation about Jack's handwriting but he’d never imagined for it to be so much like... chicken scratch. It made a laugh bubble inside of Gabriel.  
  
The first line was understandable for Gabriel but then the words transformed into something that he wasn't even sure how it would be pronounced. It didn't make any sense to him. There was only one solution to that. “Moira!” he said in a loud voice.  
  
“As you can see, I am on the other side of this table, right across from you. There is no need to scream like an overly excited puppy. Give that letter to me,” she stretched her arm across the table for Gabriel to hand the letter over and in a heartbeat she found herself reading it over and chuckling.  
  
“Stop laughing and do your job!” he chided her when she wouldn't share what was written on it.  
  
Moira smiled like a cat who got the cream before starting. “Oh dear! You've found yourself a good one. Basically the guy kept seeing you moping around the palace and being a loner and thought you might be sad away from home, so got you a present from the marketplace that reminded him of you, hoping it could make your days better. In… far too many words.”  
  
Gabriel's head snapped to the thing that the servant was still holding on the threshold while he flipped the bird in Moira's direction.  
  
Now he was curious to discover whatever was under that blanket.  
  
With a flourish, as if made out of smoke, Gabriel rose from the chair he was sitting on and walked to the door. He towered on the poor servant, who handed over the gift with trembling hands. Maybe they were shaking not only due to Gabriel's intimidating figure but because the thing was also quite heavy. Dismissing a servant was one of the first sentences that he had learned from Moira and the poor guy had done his job well and long enough, so Gabriel dismissed him, getting a bow as a thank you.  
  
Amélie closed the door behind him and Gabriel went to the table, pushing down the books from it with some satisfaction at the sight of Moira's grimace. The thing was now occupying all the space.  
  
A quick pull and the drape was falling away from it to reveal a cage and a big, colorful bird in it, now chatting loudly at seeing the light again.  
  
It was such a silly thought that Jack could have seen this and thought of Gabriel. Gabriel wasn't gaudy or loud or colorful. He wasn't... What even went through Jack's mind?  
  
Yet something inside of Gabriel was feeling like blooming hope. Jack had thought of him. Even when Gabriel was avoiding him as much as the rest of the court. It made Gabriel feel warm.  
  
The bird, something exotic, definitely not from the Capital of the Empire, cawed loudly biting the bars of its cage and Gabriel returned his attention to it. The poor thing wasn't made to stay in such terrible weather, nor in such a tiny cage. It made Gabriel's heart squeeze in sympathy, wishing to set it free, but he knew too well that it would have no chance all on its own in a foreign country so different from its home. Poor beast.  
  
Gabriel understood.  
  
“Moira,” his voice was set with determination, “found me a bigger cage for this...” He didn't know yet the word for bird now that he thought of it. “well, Bean. Its name might as well be Bean now.”

  
  


* * *

 

 

 

There were many nooks in the palace where to hide, Reinhardt had showed many of them to Gabriel the day of the ceremony, and he had discovered some himself in the following days when trying to avoid accidentally running into some courtier or another.  
  
It was useful knowledge when someone, like Gabriel, wanted to have a private word with someone else, like Jack, or John, or whatever his name was.  
  
When Jack walked down the same corridor as him, with nobody around and one of those secret nooks at hand, Gabriel took advantage of it.  
  
Leaning against the wall, Gabriel patiently waited until Jack walked close enough for him to see the small wrinkles around his splendid smile, and then his hand darted out to grab Jack’s wrist, pulling him quickly behind a tapestry before he could say a word. There was just enough space for two men to stand if they remained close enough.  
  
And Gabriel had every intention to do so, pushing Jack up against the wall.  
  
He went with a huff, those blue eyes closing briefly at the light impact but opening immediately after and Gods, did Gabriel miss seeing that peculiar shade.  
  
“Gab-” but Gabriel stopped him before he could say anymore, one of his fingers gently silencing him by pressing it against the soft lips. His other hand remained on Jack’s chest, keeping him flush against the wall, though he could feel Jack’s pectorals under his tunic.  
  
A shiver ran through Gabriel's back as he felt a hand sneak under his loose shirt and rest on his hip, thumb caressing his skin. He had… somehow… suspected that his interest was returned, but how he was elated to find out that it was actually true, and not just wishful thinking.  
  
“Next time write me something I can understand,” Gabriel whispered mere centimeters away from Jack's face, hoping that the darkness could hide the blush on his cheeks, even though he wanted to see if the same thing was happening to Jack.  
  
Jack nodded, yet Gabriel didn't let him go. Or Jack didn't let him go. It was hard to say who wanted to move less between the two, seeing as they were so close to one another, hidden behind the tapestry.  
  
At the same time, it was hard to say who made the next move, only that they moved closer, and closer, and then-  
  
They kissed. Lips against lips, warm and hungry, and then teeth and tongues, wet bites asking for more and giving. It was intense and beautiful and Gabriel hadn't felt that good in a long while.  
  
His nose bumped a few times into Jack's cheek but it didn't bother him until they had to separate to breathe once again. Like a diamond in the dirt, his saliva glistened on Jack's lips.  
  
That was a satisfying feeling, and Gabriel smiled before moving away from Jack's grip. He had to do it now, or else risk never moving from Jack’s embrace.  
  
“See you soon, John,” Gabriel smirked before sliding out from behind the tapestry, leaving an astonished Jack alone in the hidden nook.  
  
He was expecting a proper letter of explanation soon on his desk, written in that now familiar chicken scratch but with more comprehensible words this time, but for the present time, Gabriel allowed himself to walk away, a smug expression on his face.  
  
  
  


 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reaching this end of the story!  
> Actually there's more to this story 'cause in my head it was born a monster, taking up years of the life of Gabriel and Jack, but I'm just a person and have to work with my limits.  
> So if you're interested for more, and for more political plotting and for more love and explanations, keep an eye out for the follows up. Eventually.
> 
> In the meantime if you want to squeal about Jack and Gabe and Overwatch, writing and other stuff, I'll be on [ tumblr ](https://veraverorum.tumblr.com/) :D

**Author's Note:**

> If I've forgotten any tags, please let me know.  
> The next update will be in 2 days and remember, kudos and comments make an author happy!


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